


The Story Of Tonight

by jesileigh



Series: Inspired By Hamilton [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Future Fic, Gen, Inspired by Music
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-22 00:29:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7411256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesileigh/pseuds/jesileigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of ficlets inspired by songs from the musical Hamilton.</p><p>Ch 1: Best of Wives and Best of Women<br/>Ch 2: Its Quiet Uptown</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Best of Wives and Best of Women

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a letter to his wife, Eliza, Alexander Hamilton signed off saying "Adieu best of wives and best of Women. Embrace all my darling Children for me. Ever yours A.H." The letter was to be delivered to her in the event that he died in his duel with Aaron Burr, which ended up being the case, unfortunately. 
> 
> In the musical Hamilton, Eliza catches Alexander as he prepares to depart for his infamous duel with Aaron Burr. Not knowing why he is up so early she insists that he needs to come back to bed. Alexander says "I'll be back before you know I'm gone...Best of wives and best of women."

Oliver Queen was hot. Not in a “Time Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive” way (though who was anyone kidding--he’d absolutely earned that title when he was nominated in his first year as mayor of Star City). No, hot in a temperature kind of way. In a “can’t sleep with the heat on in the dead of winter or I will literally melt” kind of way. And yes, Felicity had a way of being melodramatic sometimes, but he was her own personal space heater. And it was almost a nightmare how warm his body was against her now that she was almost six months pregnant in the middle of July. 

So needless to say, it was incredibly noticeable whenever he’d abscond from their bed in the middle of the night, leaving Felicity about ten degrees cooler in mere seconds. Usually she’d revel in the luxury of stretching her limbs out and taking up the whole bed when he’d rise early to go for a jog or start the coffee for her (he thought he was brewing her decaf, but he didn’t notice she’d switched the labels. Being pregnant was enough of an energy-suck without giving up on coffee entirely). Something felt different this morning, however, and Felicity sat up in bed to squint at the screen of her phone. Without her glasses on, it read a very blurry 3:22 AM. Her heart sank. That could only mean a nightmare. And although they’d been much less frequent in the past several years, it still broke her heart to see him struggle so desperately with his demons. 

She made up her mind to check on him and reached out to feel for her glasses on the nightstand, bringing the world back into focus once they were perched on her nose where they belonged. She padded down the hall to the top of the stairs and peeked over the railing to see Oliver seated at the dining room table, scribbling furiously in his green journal. His forehead was drawn together tightly with deep lines of worry and he was entirely lost in his head. 

Felicity tiptoed down the stairs carefully, one hand on the railing and the other resting on her protruding belly. She was clumsy on a good day. The added weight to her front made her top heavy and threw off her already substandard-at-best center of gravity. It came as no surprise to her, then, when she tripped over the lamp cord near the bottom of the stairs, yelping as she caught it before it could go crashing to the ground. Her shout jolted Oliver from his thoughts and he rushed over to her in a panic. 

“Felicity! What are you doing? Are you okay? Are you hurt?” he fussed. Felicity rolled her eyes. His over-protection was beginning to wear on her.  
“I’m fine,” she brushed him off with a wave of her hand. “ I just can’t see my feet anymore and it makes walking hard sometimes.”  
“What are you doing up?” he asked, looking concerned.  
“I came down here to ask you the same thing,” she replied, wrapping her arms around his waist and pulling him as close as she could with her belly in the way. He leaned down to kiss her.  
“Couldn’t sleep. Didn’t mean to wake you up.”  
“Bad dreams again?” she asked. He nodded, averting his gaze to look at the floor. She stroked his cheek with her fingers, tracing his jawline and then moving upwards to ruffle his hair. His own hands wandered to rest on her stomach, absentmindedly rubbing there.  
“Just needed to write it down and get it out of my head,” he said, gesturing to the table and his journal resting there. “It helps sometimes.” Felicity nodded.  
“Come back to bed?” She asked. “I can give you a back rub? Or...something else to take your mind off of things?” She wiggled an eyebrow at him suggestively. Pregnancy hormones were unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. He shook his head with a sigh and a small grin.  
“I just need to finish up. I’ll be back before you know I’m gone,” he promised, kissing her lightly on the cheek. Felicity tilted her head and looked up at him, studying him.  
“Oliver, come back to sleep,” she insisted.  
“I’ll be right up. I promise.” She nodded and turned to go back upstairs.  
“Well, I’m going back to bed,” she said with a sigh.  
“Hey--” he called after her, pulling on her hand to turn her back around. She smiled up at him and he returned the soft, gentle gaze. He pressed his mouth against hers. “I love you.”  
“I love you,” she replied. “I’ll be waiting.”  
“Best of wives and best of women,” he whispered against her cheek.


	2. It's Quiet Uptown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Forgiveness. Can you imagine?
> 
> Inspired by the song It's Quiet Uptown from Hamilton.
> 
> Season 4.5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are moments that the words don’t reach  
> There is suffering too terrible to name  
> You hold your child as tight as you can  
> And push away the unimaginable  
> The moments when you’re in so deep  
> It feels easier to just swim down.
> 
> There are moments that the words don’t reach  
> There's a grace too powerful to name  
> We push away what we can never understand  
> We push away the unimaginable  
> They are standing in the garden  
> Alexander by Eliza’s side  
> She takes his hand...
> 
> Forgiveness. Can you imagine?

“Any plans for tonight?” Oliver asked tentatively, drying his messy hair with one of the new green towels Felicity had purchased for the locker room of the bunker. Late summer in Star City made for a very sweaty Green Arrow who seriously wanted to reconsider his uniform material choice. Usually Felicity was long gone by the time Oliver exited the shower each night, but tonight she had remained, reading something on her computer screen in a window she hastily minimized upon his approach.

Oliver nervously shifted his weight from foot to foot, his fingers fiddling by his side as though he was missing his bowstring. Felicity swung around to face him, slumped low in her chair, and shrugged her shoulders in reply. Oliver bit the inside of his cheek.

It had been almost an entire summer with the sole remaining member of Team Arrow: a very uncharacteristically un-chatty Felicity. He thought that he'd be used to their new normal by now, but there was something entirely unnerving about the dynamic of their...whatever it was...relationship? Friendship? Partnership?

It wasn't that she had been cold or cruel. Not at all. She wasn't even snarky with him anymore, as she had been at the onset of their breakup. She wasn't angry anymore; she was almost resigned. For the most part they'd rebuilt some semblance of comfort between them, but she just seemed so distant. So lost in her own head. He'd done his best to make himself available for her if she felt the need to talk. He assured her he wanted to listen and help her. She'd simply nod and tell him she was just fine. And even though Oliver knew she most certainly was _not_ fine, he didn't feel like he had the right to push her anymore.

The fact that she didn't want to open up to him absolutely crushed Oliver. It gave him a jarring realization of exactly how she must have felt every time he chose to go it alone when he was facing a life-altering situation. And back then they'd not only been in a relationship, but on the road to marriage and a family. It was no wonder to him now why she'd been so hurt and upset with him for keeping her at arm’s length. The guilt and frustration he felt about it only served to make him more desperate to mend things with Felicity, despite her perceived reluctance.

In his efforts he'd brought her all sorts of questions and dilemmas over the past several months. From his debate about whether or not he should accept the position as mayor to mundane things like which tie to wear to a charity event, he was determined to prove to her that he valued her opinion. It seemed to him, however, that the more he opened up to her the more she withdrew from him. He was baffled.

“I was just asking about your plans because, well, it's the first night I've had in a long time where I don't have to be anywhere right away the next morning.” Oliver offered his explanation, his hand rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. Felicity abruptly stopped swinging her chair from side to side and sat up a bit taller, raising a suspicious eyebrow in his direction. Oliver's stomach flip-flopped violently when he realized what it must sound like he was doing. He threw his hands up as though he was physically trying to stop himself.

“I'm not asking you out!” He blurted out, feeling his face flush. “I mean, not out-out like on a date out. Just like _out of the Arrow Cave_ out. To eat dinner. As friends! Or...crime fighting partners...or whatever we...are. Oh God please stop me,” he rambled, covering his face with his hands and rubbing his eyes as though he could just erase the last minute of his life. When he let his hands drop to his sides in defeat he noted the small upwards pull at the corners of Felicity’s mouth. It was amusement. Something he hadn't seen from her in entirely too long. The embarrassing word vomit was worth it then, he decided.

“I could eat,” she said simply.   
“Really?” Oliver asked incredulously.  
“Sure,” she shrugged, getting to her feet and stretching. She pushed her chair in and closed down her computer before heading for the elevator. “Coming?” She called over her shoulder to Oliver as she stepped in. He shook himself from his stupor and followed.

They found themselves at a little hole-in-the-wall Chinese place Quentin Lance had told Felicity about the last time he and Donna had been in Star City for a visit. It was a place he and his girls had frequented in what felt like another lifetime. Oliver filled the awkward silence with talk of mayoral duties as Felicity ate and listened in polite silence.

“I know last time we tried to clean up the waterfront it was kind of a bust, but it really looks great now,” Oliver said, sounding incredibly proud of this particular project.

“That's great,” Felicity said sincerely.

“We put in a garden and a memorial for everyone we lost in the Undertaking. It's got a statue and a fountain. I think you'd like it,” he said. “It's a great place to go and think. It's quiet uptown.”

“I'd love to see it sometime,” Felicity says softly.

“It's not far from here,” Oliver says eagerly. “We could walk over when we're done?” She considers him for a moment and then nods. He beams at her. “So, I know we haven't had a lot of time to talk about non-Arrow things lately,” he continues. “But you do know I still want to hear about your day, right?” He reached out and carefully put his hand on top of hers where it was resting on the table next to her plate. She jerked it back and adjusted her glasses before letting her hand fall into her lap, out of his reach. Oliver tried not to let on how that one simple movement felt like an arrow to the chest, but his features must have betrayed him because he caught a flash of guilt in Felicity's eyes before he cleared his throat and went on speaking.

“I--I'm glad to hear you're taking on the board at Palmer Tech,” he said, shaking off the rejection and carrying on. Felicity inhaled sharply.

“Oh, you heard about that?” She asked, surprised.

“Just because you don't tell me things anymore doesn't mean I'm not interested in your life,” Oliver said with a sad smile. “You're the youngest female CEO of a multi-billion dollar conglomerate in history. You're the first person to use a microchip to walk again after paralysis and, well...you're the ex-fiancée of the mayor of the city. You're all over the news, Felicity. You're kind of a big deal.”

“Oh,” she said simply, her face flushed. “Right.”

“I'm so proud of you,” Oliver said. “Those idiots on the board don't know what they're up against. Letting you walk away was the stupidest mistake they'll ever make and--”

“Let's go see the memorial,” Felicity interrupted.

“Oh--uh--okay,” Oliver sputtered, reaching for his wallet and flagging down a server to pay. Felicity tried to hand over her card as well, and Oliver waved her off. “I've got it,” he insisted. “I invited you.” Felicity narrowed her eyes at him.

“You said it wasn't a date.”

“It's not--I just wanted to talk. Catch up. Say thank you for being here all summer.” He watched as her eyes searched his face for a moment before she finally conceded and put her card back into her wallet. The confused waiter took Oliver's payment and hurried away to run it. Oliver turned to Felicity and studied her for a moment.

“Felicity,” he began, cautiously, “Have I--have I done something wrong? Recently. I mean,” he clarified when she raised an eyebrow at him. The waiter returned with his card and Oliver signed the receipt without taking his eyes off of Felicity, who was gnawing on her bottom lip across the table.

“Let's just go,” She said as Oliver put his card away. She stood up and briskly made her way outside, Oliver on her heels.

“Hey,” he said gently, taking her elbow to slow her down and catch her attention. She pulled her arm away from him, but turned to face him anyway.

“Oliver--” she warned.

“Felicity,” he was nearly pleading with her. “I'm just trying to talk. I'm trying to be here for you because you're clearly struggling with something. I don't understand why you keep shutting me out!” Felicity took a step back, looking like she was torn between yelling at him or running from him. She threw her hands up, exasperated. Exhausted.

“Look, Oliver,” she began, voice trembling. “I killed 30,000 people with the press of a button. I lost my job, which I was very invested in, while I was trying to save the world. One of my best friends was murdered. My other two closest friends fell off the face of the earth. My relationship with the man I thought I would spend the rest of my life with imploded. My father came back into my life and then vanished again without so much as a goodbye. I am playing an increasingly difficult game of emotional Jenga right now. Struggling is an understatement.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying her damndest to regain control over herself. “But I am _not_ your problem anymore, Oliver. These challenges are not yours to help with. Your shoulder is not mine to cry on.” The _anymore_ was implied. Oliver felt his heart breaking all over again as she stood before him, fists clenched as she tried desperately to keep afloat. She was so strong, but it was like she'd forgotten she didn't have to be a rock all the time. That it was okay to feel. It was painful on another level for him because he knew she'd learned this from watching him bury his pain for so long.

“I know I don't deserve you, Felicity. I don't even deserve a fraction of your time,” Oliver said gently, taking a step towards her. She didn't retreat again, merely bit her lip and listened. “But hear me out--that would be enough.” She nodded, giving him permission to proceed. “I don't pretend to know the challenges you're facing. And I know we can't replace what we've lost. I'm not asking you to wear my ring again right now, in this moment. I'm simply asking you to let me be here by your side. Because I love you and I always will. You've had the year from hell and I just--I need you to know my shoulder _is_ yours to cry on. Always and forever.” Felicity's face softened and Oliver watched as her eyes filled with tears and the weight of everything she'd been dealing with for the past six months.

“I know, Oliver,” she sighed. “I know you'd drop everything for me in a heartbeat but that isn't fair to you when I don't even know if I'm ever going to be ready to try again.”

“Felicity, my being here for you is _not_ contingent on whether or not we're sleeping together,” Oliver said, sounding hurt. “You have to know that,” he implored. “Is that why you've been avoiding me all summer?”

“I just wasn't ready to open the Pandora’s Box that is my feelings about us. And I knew you were aching to have that conversation,” her eyes were fixed on the sidewalk. “Your efforts haven't gone unnoticed. And I appreciate that you're trying so hard to include me, but…”

“You need time,” Oliver supplied. She nodded. “And that's fine. I completely destroyed your trust and I know I will spend every moment of the rest of my life trying to win that back. It means the world to me that you stayed. That you still had enough faith in me after everything that happened.”

“Honestly, the only thing that has helped me keep it even slightly together is being with you every night. It still hurts, of course. Being with you but not _with_ you. Which, duh, I knew. That's why I tried to leave the team in the first place...but you're the one constant in my life right now. You're there every single day. Your voice in my ear. Your smile whenever I walk in the room...it helps. Even if you haven't noticed.” Oliver's arms physically ached to hold her, but he knew she wouldn't allow it, so he crossed his arms, basically hugging himself, instead. “Can we go see the memorial now?” She asked meekly. “Please?” Oliver nodded, letting her know he was accepting that this conversation was over for now.

“It's just a few blocks this way,” he said.

“Great,” she replied, sounding relieved. “Lead the way.”

They walked uptown in silence. It was very late by now, so the two of them were the only souls near the waterfront as they neared the garden and statue looming ahead. While Oliver's fingers itched to reach out and take her hand, he noticed that Felicity's hands were firmly in her pockets, so he resumed his nervous tic of fiddling with the imaginary bowstring. He fell back and watched as she made her way over to the huge plaque listing the names of all those lost to the Undertaking. Her eyes scaled the life-sized marble statue of a mother clutching one child to her chest and holding the hand of another child by her side. The water from a dancing fountain near the back of the stone plaza made a soothing sound as they took it all in.

“I designed it myself,” Oliver whispered, moving to stand next to her as she ran her fingers over the rows of names etched in bronze. “It's unimaginable,” he said, motioning to the stone statue. “Losing a child, I mean. I try not to think about it. It's too much to understand.” Felicity felt a pang strike her heart as she realized Oliver wasn't just waxing poetic about something he had no frame of reference for. He likely worried every moment of the day about his son. The child he would never get to see grow up.

“It's beautiful, Oliver,” she breathed out. Her fingers stopped over a name she recognized, and a confession Oliver had made years ago echoed in her mind. “He'd be so proud of you,” she whispered, tracing the letters one by one. “How far you've come. All the lives you've saved. The man you've become.” Oliver peered over her shoulder as the light of the nearby streetlamp bounced off of the name Felicity was tracing. He stepped closer and imitated the motion, tracing the letters of Tommy’s name himself. “You told me once that your best friend died thinking you were a murderer,” she added. “But you have honored his memory, Oliver. In so many ways. He would be so proud. And your son... _William_ ,” She emphasized. Oliver took a sharp breath, hearing her say his name. “William would be so proud of you if he knew who you are and what you've done for this city...I know I am.” Oliver closed his eyes and swallowed the lump in his throat as tears began to well up.

They stood in silence, shoulder to shoulder for a long while, just taking in the sounds of the city. Then suddenly and very slowly all at once, Felicity reached out and took Oliver's hand, lacing their fingers together and squeezing. Oliver bowed his head and let his tears fall as Felicity leaned over to rest her cheek against his shoulder, wrapping her arm around his in an embrace that told him all he needed to know.

 _Forgiveness_. 


End file.
